#BallisticGel

We shoot Browning .40 S&W BXP 180 gr X-Point ammunition from a Glock 22 with a 4.5″ barrel into Clearballistics ballistic gel to measure velocity, penetration, expansion/fragmentation, and retained weight.

We shoot Fiocchi .38 spl 125gr XTP ammunition from a Rossi M92 lever action carbine with a 16″ barrel into Clearballistics ballistic gel to measure velocity, penetration, expansion/fragmentation, and retained weight. Buy it at Ventura Munitions.

We shoot Remington .357 mag 158gr SJHP ammunition from a Rossi M92 lever action carbine with a 16″ barrel into Clearballistics ballistic gel to measure velocity, penetration, expansion/fragmentation, and retained weight.  Buy it at Ventura Munitions

We shoot Remington .357 mag 158gr SJHP ammunition from a Smith & Wesson Model 13L with a 4″ barrel into Clearballistics ballistic gel to measure velocity, penetration, expansion/fragmentation, and retained weight.  Buy it at Ventura Munitions.

We shoot Hornady .357 Sig 135gr Critical Duty ammunition from a Glock 22 with a Storm Lake 4.25″ barrel into Clearballistics ballistic gel to measure velocity, penetration, expansion/fragmentation, and retained weight. Buy it at Ventura Munitions.

We shoot Hornady 9x18mm 95gr FTX Critical Defense ammunition from a Bulgarian Arsenal Makarov with a 3.7″ barrel into Clearballistics ballistic gel to measure velocity, penetration, expansion/fragmentation, and retained weight. Buy it at Ventura Munitions

We shoot Ventura 10mm Lehigh 115gr Extreme Defense ammunition from an EAA Witness with a 4.5″ barrel into Clearballistics ballistic gel to measure velocity, penetration, expansion/fragmentation, and retained weight.  Buy it at Ventura Munitions.

We shoot Remington 9mm 124gr Golden Saber brass jacketed hollow point ammunition from a Smith & Wesson Shield with a 3″ barrel into Clearballistics ballistic gel to measure velocity, penetration, expansion/fragmentation, and retained weight. Buy it at Ventura Munitions.

We shoot Federal 9mm 150gr HST jacketed hollow point ammunition from a Smith & Wesson Shield with a 3″ barrel into Clearballistics ballistic gel to measure velocity, penetration, expansion/fragmentation, and retained weight. Buy it at Ventura Munitions.

We shoot Ventura 10mm Lehigh 115gr Extreme Defense and 140 gr Extreme Penetrator ammunition from an EAA Witness with a 4.5″ barrel into Clearballistics ballistic gel to measure velocity, penetration, expansion/fragmentation, and retained weight. Buy it at Ventura Munitions.

There is a lot of misconception out there about ballistic gel, which leads to some pretty bad conclusions about defense ammo. One of the more popular mistakes is the claim that ballistic gel is not an exact simulation of tissue. Paradoxically, this one is a little sticky because taken at face value, that’s actually correct. It isn’t a perfect simulation, but for that matter, actual living bodies are not a perfect prediction of what will happen in a shooting because every body is different, the exact angle of impact will vary, the tangent of the bullet to a round bone is literally infinitely variable, and many more significant variables are simply impossible to control. But properly prepared and calibrated 10% ordnance gelatin does produce penetration, retained weight, and expansion/fragmentation results that correlate very strongly with wounds observed in actual bodies. It is near perfect for simulating those measurements in living muscle tissue and the results in other soft tissues do not tend to deviate significantly. It is also homogenous and easily reproducible so variables can be controlled and results compared.

Buy it at Ventura Munitions: https://www.venturamunitions.com/hsm-9mm-124gr-xtp-subsonic-ammo-50-rounds/

We fired 10mm Hornady 175 gr Critical Duty FlexLock from 4.5″ barrel EAA polymer frame Witness at 20 feet into clear ballistic gel to assess velocity, penetration, expansion, and weight retention. While the performance may not be perfect, it is nevertheless quite good.

The terminal effectiveness of modern bullets has been the subject of much study, but less well scrutinized have been the projectiles of rifles before 1900, fired by the blackpowder weapons that armed men throughout the age of empires. Fortunately, the Hungarian channel CapandBall has performed some very interesting terminal ballistic tests of these weapons from the pre-smokeless powder era. The video below shows his gelatin test of the M1867/77 Werndl rifle, compared to tests he has performed previously with the Austro-Hungarian M1842 Augustin 15.9mm and the M1854 Lorenz 13.7mm rifles: